I think I did pretty well this time around, with much less mistakes (at least major ones).

Round 1

Aaron -> Bann -> Fadzuli -> Me -> Kristine

It was unfortunate that Kristine's main deck combo did not work the way she expected it to (old card vs new text) and she was ousted fairly quickly by me. I think I had Mary Anne Blaire, Victor Donaldson, Mustafa the Heir and Graham Gottesman out by that point. Since I had the majority votes, Aaron and Fadzuli could not do much, so I just kept bleeding into Aaron and bouncing bleeds over. Unfortunately, I could not oust Bann before time ran out.

1GW + 2.5VP

Round 2

Me -> Hidetoshi-san -> Nomura-san -> Jared -> John Worrall

I got off to a shaky start for this game (note to self: take out Juniper from the deck. She has a cute ability, but the lack of votes hurts like crazy), drawing only 3 titled vampires and getting Victor Pelletier when I went fishing for more (another note to self: take out Victor P from the deck. He is the only vampire I cannot get for free with Govern) and starting off with no bounce and no wakes. Fortunately, John was not able to oust me before I finally drew into some bounces.

The game lasted for an hour and a half with no one being ousted. I was unable to bleed Hidetoshi-san for big amounts (dude packs way too many bounces) and he managed to stealth past Nomura-san's defenses before I could oust him. Then John lost all his minions to combat from both sides and he was ousted by Jared. I managed to convince Jared to send all of Hidetoshi-san's minions into torpor, but time ran out and I had to settle for 0.5VP.

Stephen commented that the amount of combat on my table was ridiculous and hoped he didn't have to sit down with us at any point during the event. Guess he reckoned without Murphy's Law.

Then came the longest pitch for a deal I have ever had to do in V:tES. For a good half an hour, Stephen and I spent our time between turns trying to convince Lucinio to do the right thing. Of course, for Stephen, this meant for him to help remove Pentex Subversion as it would mean a weaker predator for him once I go into full defense mode. I, however, was convinced that if Stephen and he were to go one-on-one, Lucinio would not be able to handle Saulot and he should leave the Pentex alone while Fadzuli weakens Stephen.

When I talked to Lucinio after the game, he told me that when we first started pitching, my plan did sound better. I guess when he finally decided to burn the Pentex, it was too late for him. I bled him down to one pool and agreed to help Fadzuli oust Stephen if he would oust Lucinio with his KRC.

In the end, I could not out vote Fadzuli's minions and a Powerbase: Madrid and was ousted immediately after Stephen.

1GW + 4VP

Final Table

I managed to edge past Fadzuli and Fay in tournament points to get into the final table.

Unfortunately, it is now the wee hours of the morning and I don't think I can coherently talk about one of the most exciting finals I have ever played in, so I will continue in the next post.